The Pendulum, October 20, 2021, Edition

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THE PENDULUM

Wednesday, October 20, 2021 Elon, North Carolina Volume 51, Edition 9

CHANGING THE GAME:

NAME, IMAGE AND LIKENESS As name, image and likeness policies form nationwide, members of athletics and the Elon community discuss how these changes could influence Elon athletics Caitlin Rundle | Elon News Network | @caitlinr_21

W

HEN STUDENT ATHLETES ACROSS America returned to school for a new season this year, a new interim policy was put into place. Finalizing that policy, the NCAA declared that college student-athletes could finally profit off of their name, image and likeness.

Before this policy was developed, athletes cited the Sherman Antitrust Act — a federal statute prohibiting activities that restrict interstate commerce and competition in the marketplace — when defending their right to profit off of their marketability.

Now, athletes signed to schools nationwide have that chance.

Taking that chance at Elon, senior Leah Daniel has already taken advantage of NIL opportunities. The All-American volleyball player has agreements with Barstool Sports and Liquid I.V. — an electrolyte drink mix. In an email sent to Elon News Network, Daniel said that she wanted to make a deal with Liquid I.V. because of how much she already used the product, and her agreement with Barstool is for beneficial experiences.

Daniel said that the benefits college athletes can receive give them a chance to get their names out to sponsors.

However, finding sponsorships and

ILLUSTRATION BY TED THOMAS

finalizing agreements is not always the easiest, especially for some student athletes at Elon.

“It is harder with being a smaller school to get deals with bigger companies that are reaching out to more popular athletes or D1 programs,” Daniel wrote.

Though connections are hard to make in the sports world for athletes at smaller, private schools Daniel wrote that she is still grateful for the opportunities she has received.

Overseeing NIL work with Elon athletics, Jeffrey Scheible said Elon’s policy follows suit of the policies higher placed — individual states can create their own policies, followed by conferences, then by individual schools. Scheible serves as the associate athletic director for compliance and administration, where he saw the changes that occured in athletics when the NCAA announced its NIL policy.

LUKE JOHNSON | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Elon senior outside hitter Leah Daniel serves the ball at the women’s volleyball match against Duke University on Aug. 31.

See LIKENESS | pg. 8

COVID-19 brings childcare difficulties Addressing chemicals in the Haw River

COVID-19 created new childcare difficulties for Elon faculty, forcing some to rely on university support

Experts and town of Pittsboro residents, officials search for solutions to upstream water pollution contaminating drinking water

Avery Sloan

Mackenzie Wilkes

Childcare in the town of Elon is a challenge for communications professor Kathleen Stansberry, and has been a consistent struggle since Elon University shut down in March 2020, the same time her three kids were also sent home from Elon Elementary.

“Having very young kids trying to figure out how to use Zoom and Google Classroom, and I mean very young — like first grade, kindergarten — was overwhelming,” Stansberry said.

“The childcare options just

PITTSBORO, NC — Jessica Merricks moved to Pittsboro in 2019 after she and her husband saved money to buy a home. She had just gotten a job in Elon while her husband worked in Raleigh, and they wanted to buy their first home in a town between the two towns where they could raise their daughter. But then came a letter in the mail.

In October 2019, Merricks received a notice in her water bill informing residents that unregulated contaminants had been detected in the town’s drinking water. These contaminants, 1,4-dioxane and perfluoroalkyl substances, also known as PFAS, were coming from upstream discharges.

“Not being from an area, you do all your research, right? Well, what’s the crime like? What’s the general feel of the community?” Merricks said.

“Nobody goes and thinks about, ‘Well, am I gonna be able to drink the water?”

Elon News Network | @averylsloan

Elon News Network | @macwilkes

AVERY SLOAN | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Communications professor Kathleen Stansberry and her son, John, sit outside of their home after school. When the pandemic hit in March 2020, John was one of Stansberry’s sons who needed childcare while attending virtual school.

weren’t there anymore.”

Stansberry was teaching full time when the pandemic hit, and with her kids attending virtual school and immunocompromised family members, the struggles came to her all at once.

NEWS • PAGE 5 Debt ceiling leaves impacts on federal government

But even after the return to in-person learning, this experience has only continued for Stansberry, and other faculty members are facing it too.

See CHILDCARE | pg. 4 LIFESTYLE • PAGE 7 Local nail salons share how they connect with campus community

See WATER | pg. 5 SPORTS • PAGE 8 NIL policies remain unclear in early days

2

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Wednesday OCTOBER 20, 2021

THE PENDULUM A PUBLICATION OF

Established 1974 Volume 51, Edition 9 Elon News Network is a daily news organization that includes a newspaper, website, broadcasts and podcasts. Letters to the editor are welcome and should be typed, signed and emailed to enn@elon.edu as Word documents. ENN reserves the right to edit obscene and potentially libelous material.

Lengthy letters may be trimmed to fit. All submissions become the property of ENN and will not be returned.

KYRA O’CONNOR

Executive Director of Elon News Network

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Managing Editor of The Pendulum

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Analytics Director

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MIRANDA FERRANTE

Lifestyle Editor

JACOB KISAMORE

Sports Director

Rayna Russo, Ted Thomas, Tucker Price and Betsy Schlehuber contributed to the design of this edition. Madalyn Howard, Olivia Romano, Samantha Sussman, Abigail Hobbs, Caroline Mitchell, Anna Topfl, Gram Brownlee, Alexa Ferraiuolo and Ryan Kupperman contributed the copy editing of this edition.

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ACADEMICS, FOOD & DRINK, CAMPUS AND MORE

extras

| PHOTOS OF THE WEEK |

SOPHIE ROSENTHAL | CHIEF COPY EDITOR

Directed by professor of dance Casey Avaunt, students rehearse for the Fall Dance Concert. The event will take place Nov. 12-14, featuring Elon BFA dance majors performing original and experimental work by faculty, guest artists and select students.

Wednesday OCTOBER 20, 2021

3

LUKE JOHNSON | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

President Joe Biden walks from the Oval Office to Marine 1 on Oct. 15, preparing to depart from Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on Air Force One.

Makeup artist Carl Ray works on a model before an Oct. 17 commercial shoot for a wedding venue in northern Virginia. Seen in the reflection of four makeup mirrors, Ray fills in the model’s eyebrow.

LUKE JOHNSON | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

LUKE JOHNSON | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Members of the United States Capitol Police carry a woman underneath caution tape after she refused to move off the road during a climate protest in front of the United States Capitol on Oct. 15.

ADDIE BUCCO | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Students make burlap pumpkins at the Maker Hub’s Fall Decor Workshop on Oct. 12

NEWS 4 Childcare difficulties push professors to seek university assistance Wednesday OCTOBER 20, 2021

CHILDCARE | from cover Justine Nienow, senior assistant registrar for technology, also faced a unique set of struggles with her own young child and coming back to work during a pandemic.

Nienow’s son was born in December 2019, resulting in her maternity ending in March — the same time Elon students were also sent home. Nienow was left with no daycare options until June.

Nienow said how this forced her to rely on the flexibility Elon exhibited in allowing her to work from home in the fall of 2020 and support from family members, in addition to her daycare once that became available.

“I think there was definitely a definite shift of ‘family is important,’” Nienow said.

Taking unpaid leave was something that made a significant difference in being able to manage her three children and their classes, according to Stansberry. “[I have] hilarious pictures of my six year old climbing the stairs to avoid his classes, hiding under the table. A lot of time was spent finding him, and then physically putting him in front of the computer screen.”

Stansberry said.

Though this was a challenging experience for faculty and staff with children to have to contend with, other professors acknowledged how the support from Elon University, both formally and informally, was crucial for their success in teaching and parenting.

Associate dean and communications professor Tony Weaver has personally benefited from the informal support he has found from the Elon community. Weaver said the support on an individual level of the Elon community was what made teaching and parenting through a pandemic a manageable experience.

AVERY SLOAN | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Stansberry’s youngest son, John, swings outside of his home. Stansberry was teaching full time when the pandemic hit, and with her kids attending virtual school and immunocompromised family members, the struggles came to her all at once.

For Weaver, Elon supporting its faculty and staff through regular checkups and taking the time to understand what other parents are going through is what was valuable. He felt like the Elon community really came together to support each other as there was a common understanding about what others were going through.

The Power of Relationships

“

2021-22 SEASON

AT THE BEGINNING I WAS PRIMARILY JUGGLING MY CLASSES AND THE KIDS’ CLASSES AND TRYING TO SLEEP WHEREVER I COULD. IT WAS NOT EASY.

Leo M. Lambert,

Elon University President Emeritus

and Peter Felten, Assistant provost

“Relationship-Rich Education”

KATHLEEN STANSBERRY COMMUNICATIONS PROFESSOR

FEATURING

Mirella Cisneros ’19 James Donnell ’19 L’21 Matthew Foster ’20

“I think a lot of us operated hour to hour, day to day, and so we notice one of our colleagues having a tough day, that’s when you try to step in and help,” Weaver said.

This informal support has remained present for Will Pluer, professor of engineering, despite being new to Elon this semester. With his daughter born in April 2020, Pluer watched COVID-19 shift his childcare plans. Other professors offered to step in for Pluer if needed — covering classes, scheduling and making sure his daughter was always accounted for.

“On the individual level, other faculty members are very encouraging and get references or help out with a class if I need to.” Pluer said.

Yasmeen Lee ’20

Oct. 21, 2021 | 7:30 p.m.

Koury Athletic Center, Alumni Gym For more information, visit elon.edu/speakerseries

Natalie Green ’21

While the informal support was also something that Stansberry has noticed and has been important for her with her three sons, she also took advantage of the formal support that Elon offered. Stansberry discussed that the main programs Elon offered faculty was to take unpaid leave, as she herself did, or if a professor is pre tenure to extend their tenure clock, giving them more leniency on when to complete everything necessary to obtain tenure status.

With professors who are parents struggling to manage teaching and helping their own kids work from home at the same time, having increased flexibility for the timeline of what goes into obtaining tenure is beneficial.

The evidence on these effects are currently limited; Stansberry discussed how delaying tenure clock and unpaid leave negatively impact female faculty to a greater degree. These are things that appear

to widen the gender gap in academia as women are more likely to not continue in their career, or not progress into leadership roles.

In the journal, Women’s Experience of the Tenure Process by Debra J. Cody, it showed that it is not enough to solely extend one’s tenure clock, as male professors in higher education are more likely to already feel supported by the University and be satisfied with the tenure process, meaning that extending the tenure clock won’t make it easier for women to obtain tenure.

This journal also showed how at other Universities where they have previously allowed professors to extend their tenure clock, they lacked family centered policies, resulting in this extra time still not helping women get tenure.

Stansberry also discussed how some of Elon’s assistance isn’t an option for other faculty members — taking unpaid leave and delaying one’s tenure ensures that one will be getting paid less presently. This means that while the support Elon University provided to faculty has been felt by many and seen positively, these options aren’t feasible for everyone and may have certain future ramifications for female professors.

Looking at unpaid leave, this became important for Stansberry’s 12-year-old son, Paul, as he said he struggled with the transition to remote learning. Paul is Stansberry’s oldest son, currently a 7th grader at the Burlington school, and he struggled initially with the transition out of in person school last year, making Stansberry at home with him helpful during his time at home.

“It was hard to stay on task,” Paul said.

“I mean, back then I was like, I always got good grades. I was a little bit ahead. Usually, I can usually get that stuff done, but I think that kind of dropped when I went in virtual school.”

This year put stress on Stansberry and her kids as they all were forced to adapt, making the support that Elon University gave professors crucial. Even with this additional support, these programs were not without problems. Stansberry is concerned for the future overall and the effects that’ll be seen, particularly for women.

“We moved here for Elon so that I could work here, which I love and I’m glad we did, but it does leave behind, it does mean not having those family connections. So we built it up with friends and social support, and then COVID hit,” Stansberry said. “I think this is going to have long term repercussions for women in professional positions, both for Elon and other universities, and just in the workforce as a whole.”

NEWS

Wednesday october 20, 2021

5

Industrial contaminants pollute Pittsboro drinking water WATER | from cover PFAS, industrial contaminants known as forever chemicals, are a group of manmade chemicals used in food packaging, and household products such as polishes and waxes, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. PFAS poses some health risks such as low infant birth weights, immune system deficiencies, cancer and thyroid problems.

On Monday, EPA Administrator Michael Regan announced a plan to address the industrial contaminant. Currently, the EPA doesn’t have a maximum contaminant level that regulates and enforces how much PFAS can be in drinking water, however, it does have a health advisory level set at 70 parts per trillion. Under the new plan, further research on PFAS’ toxicity, regulation and clean up of the contaminants is being directed by the EPA. Regan, who was sworn in as EPA administrator in March, is a North Carolina native who most recently served as the secretary of the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality, where he worked to address PFAS. PFAS can get into drinking water through industrial processes when wastewater gets into the drinking water supply. The Haw River is Pittsboro’s drinking water supply, and upstream wastewater pollution has spilled industrial contaminants into the river.

1,4 dioxane is used as a solvent in adhesives sealants and is a likely human carcinogen, per the EPA. There is no maximum contaminant level for 1,4 dioxane, but a health advisory suggests that drinking of the substance shouldn’t exceed 4 milligrams per liter a day.

So, the Merrickses did what they could to protect themselves. Merricks’ and her husband educated themselves on the contaminants and installed water filters in their home. But, it dawned on Merricks that she just couldn’t concern herself with the water in her house but everywhere her family went in Pittsboro.

“All the public schools use city water, right?

Most of the day cares use city water,” Merricks said. “And it’s just the more I thought about it, the more I realized, look, I can’t protect [my daughter] by just focusing on my house. We have to think about everywhere we go, where are we getting our water from?”

Aware of the broader implications of the town’s contaminated drinking water, Merricks co-founded the organization Clean Haw River in 2020 alongside Katie Bryant. The goal of the organization is to not only inform people of the drinking water contamination but to advocate for change. Bryant, a former microbiologist in the vaccine and cosmetic industries, has dedicated herself to learning about industrial contaminants.

“Unfortunately, you have to be an expert in your field, sometimes even understand at all, [or] fully understand the subject. I would say, there’s a ton of barriers,” Bryant said.

Bryant was a member of the Pittsboro Water Quality Task Force formed in November 2019.

The citizen composed task force culminated with a report in October 2020 with three key recommendations: develop a response plan with upstream cities, assess water infrastructure options and generate public awareness.

Searching for solutions

One long-term solution the town is pursuing is installing an enhanced water filtration system at the town’s water treatment facility. The Pittsboro Board of Commissioners approved $2.6 million for the installation of a water treatment system.

The town has hired CDM Smith, a consulting engineering and contractor, for the installation. An assessment of three water treatment systems was done by CDM Smith.

A combined granular activated carbon filter (GAC) and ion exchange water treatment were determined to be the most cost effective solution that meets the town’s treatment goals, according to CDM Smith.

While the GAC and IX filter system removes 90% of PFAS from the water, according to CDM Smith study, it can’t filter out emerging contaminants like 1,4 dioxane. The CDM Smith study found that UV advanced oxidation process (UV- AOP) was effective at removing 90% of 1, 4 dioxane and extends the life of the GAC filter.

The study, conducted between March and October 2020, found that levels of 1,4 dioxane were decreasing in the town’s water, but recommended adding UV-AOP if levels begin to rise again.

And levels have once again started to rise.

North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality announced on July 1 that the city of Greensboro discharged 1,4 dioxane into South

Buffalo Creek from T.Z. Osbourne wastewater treatment plant. The discharge from this plant flows downstream and affects the drinking water supply of Pittsboro.

For Bryant, one long-term solution to water contamination in Pittsboro is to implement higher water quality standards at the federal level in order to regulate and closely monitor these contaminants.

“What would be required of our facilities to monitor and test for more laboratories to test for things so more checking,” Bryant said. “We have an emerging problem here that’s kind of going under the radar.”

“

IT’S NOT GOING TO BE SOMETHING THAT HAPPENS OVERNIGHT. AND THEN IN THE MEANTIME, WE’VE GOT THOUSANDS OF COMMUNITY MEMBERS WHO ARE DRINKING THIS WATER EVERY SINGLE DAY. EMILY SUTTON

HAW RIVER ASSEMBLY RIVERKEEPER

Emily Sutton is the riverkeeper for the Haw River Assembly. Her job is to monitor, maintain and advocate for the health of the river. The Haw River Assembly recently held a community forum discussing the water issue.

She said residents are concerned about the issue, but are having to rely on organizations such as there for information and action.

“A lot of their response has been kind of relying on groups, like our group Haw River Assembly, to stop this issue at the source through legal action work and litigation with Burlington and city of Greensboro,” Sutton said. “But even if that’s the only pathway, the only solution, that’s going to take years. It’s not going to be something that happens overnight.

And then in the meantime, we’ve got thousands

of community members who are drinking this water every single day.”

After the Southern Environmental Law Center intended to sue the city of Burlington in 2019 on behalf of the Haw River Assembly, an agreement was reached in 2020 requiring Burlington to investigate the sources of PFAS and 1,4 dioxane coming from the city and transparency about the process.

The SELC is also currently petitioning the North Carolina Department of Environment Quality and the North Carolina Environmental Management Commission on behalf of the Haw River Assembly regarding an agreement the groups made with the city of Greensboro.

The agreement requires Greensboro to monitor and report out sampling results. The petition argues that the order doesn’t apply water quality laws and regulations to the city.

The SELC’s legal actions in Burlington and Greensboro don’t point to specific industries in these cities as the cause of the contamination in the wastewater, but other legal action in the state points to industries causing PFAS contamination.

North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein launched an investigation into PFAS contamination in August 2020 which included a lawsuit against chemical companies the Chemours Company and EI Dupont de Nemours. Dupont formerly owned and operated Chemours, who owns and operates Fayetville Works, a manufacturing facility where PFAS contaminants were found. This contamination, however, would impact the lower Cape Fear River system. The Haw River is a tributary of this system but the river and Pittsboro is located north of Fayetville and the Cape Fear River. PFAS contaminants in Pittsboro’s water is coming from upstream.

For some residents like Suzanne Davis, there’s little hope that the problem will be mitigated. Davis and her husband are North Carolina natives from Chapel Hill who moved to Pittsboro when they retired in 2016. She said her family was lucky to have emergency funds to install a water filtration system but doesn’t have hope that action will come soon.

“We, my husband and I, do not have much hope for a small town to fight industries that have kept water protection laws low on the list of our state’s elected officials’ priorities,” Davis wrote. “In fact, knowing how slowly this issue will resolve, if it ever does, we have installed a water purification system in our home.”

CHEAT SHEET

The debt ceiling: Effects on U.S. federal government Dillan Bono-Lunn, professor of political science, discusses impacts of the debt ceiling on federal government Gabriella Sable Elon News Network

The debt limit — commonly referred to as the debt ceiling — represents the maximum amount of debt that the U.S. D ep ar t ment of Treasury can issue to different Dillan Bono-Lunn f e d e r a l agencies. The maximum amount is typically set by law and each year has risen to finance the operations of the federal government.

This past month, the U.S. Senate passed legislation to raise the debt ceiling through early December. The legislation will temporarily raise the federal government’s borrowing limit and push back the deadline of debt default to December.

Dillan Bono-Lunn, professor of political science and policy studies, discusses what the debt ceiling is and how it impacts the federal government’s operations.

Q: What is the debt ceiling?

“The debt ceiling is a legislative limit on

the amount of national debt that the United States can hold at any given time. It is the limit on how much money the federal government can borrow in order to pay for things that we’ve already appropriated.

Every year, we have a budget, which has a certain amount of tax revenue from taxes and other things. And then, we have lots of things that we spend money on and we typically end up deficit spending. Then every year that deficit gets added to the total amount of national debt.

Our debt right now is around $28.43 trillion.”

Q: How does it affect how the government is run?

“We need to sort of periodically pay our debtors at different times, or our lenders at different times. If we don’t pay this back, we are sort of telling the people who are lending us money by buying government bonds, that we aren’t good for it.

It affects the normal government activities in that it would be much more difficult, for example, to actually take out those bonds. We literally wouldn’t be able to fund our activities.

If we have this sort of statutory limit on the amount of debt we can have, then we in essence, cannot issue any more debt to pay for the things that we’ve already said we’re going to do.”

Q: Why would this cause a government shutdown?

“A government shutdown is basically where we haven’t passed how we’re going to be spending money and appropriating money for all of the different things that the government does. They can be linked because politically, political actors will sort of say ‘Well, we’re not

going to increase the debt, unless we really get a hold of spending.’ We might politically link those two things, but they’re not necessarily the same and politically, they’re kind of linked, even by the proponents of the national debt limit.

We also didn’t always have one. It was established in the late ’30s, early ’40s, that we had a debt limit. And from the ’70s on through the mid ’90s, we had the Gephardt rule, which raised the debt ceiling when the budget was passed. That’s also probably why these two concepts get tied together ... After that, the Gephardt rule got phased out in the mid-’90s when politicking around the debt ceiling came about.”

Q: Could you go into a little more detail about what the Gephardt rule is?

“It’s basically a parliamentarian rule that raised the debt ceiling when the budget was passed. It essentially raised the debt ceiling as much as we needed to raise it for that budget.

There are a lot of sort of parliamentary changes that happened from the ’70s onwards to where it was maybe less necessary to have that...Since the early ’60s, we’ve raised the debt ceiling over 80 times.

I think this might have been one of those cases where policymakers in the ’90s didn’t anticipate that this was going to be something that people played politics with. This was just something that every Congress member did because they knew it would be so disastrous, not to raise the debt ceiling.”

Q: Is it almost better to raise the debt ceiling then to not raise the debt

ceiling?

“There’s no choice but to raise the debt ceiling. If we don’t pass the debt ceiling, a catastrophic disaster happens as opposed to in the government shutdown, which can be disruptive.

The last [one] was from December 2018 to January of 2019 and lasted 35 days. It led to lots of market disruptions, but this was just a disruption. It would be a catastrophe if we didn’t raise the debt ceiling… We did come really close to not raising the debt ceiling in 2011 and that actually had some real costs. The Dow Jones Industrial Average had a historic fall, the day leading up to that and the S&P downgraded our credit rating for our US bonds.

Because our credit rating was downgraded, we were sort of seen as less good for the money. It cost us $18.9 billion over 10 years and that was just in borrowing costs. We got close to that cliff, and even then we suffered some monetary costs for it.

Fortunately, of course, we didn’t actually default on our debt, which, you know, every economist will essentially say like that leads to catastrophe. The markets would freefall and millions of people would be unemployed. So this is like a doomsday scenario that no one ever wants to actually have happened, but is political because of who is stuck having to pass the debt ceiling.”

Q: Looking forward, what do you think will happen in December?

“To be perfectly honest, I’m not super optimistic. I think we are going to scrape through it, but we are going to see the same thing that we’ve just seen.”

Wednesday, october 20, 2021 | page 6

ELON EATS

LIFESTYLE

THE ELON BITE IS A COLUMN THAT REVIEWS RESTAURANTS AND FOOD VENDORS IN THE LOCAL AREA

Converge Coffee brings fall flavors with seasonal menu

Eddie Keefe

Freshman

IF YOU GO Converge Coffee Bar & Cafe Where: 3336 South

Church St Burlington, NC 27215 When:

Monday - Friday: 7 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Saturday - Sunday: 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Converge Coffee, a Burlington coffee shop, makes you feel safe and welcome as soon as you walk inside. Customers are greeted by kind staff who help you decide what to order. The fall decor makes you feel right at home during the season, with leaf-like chairs and warm colors all around.

The smell of freshly brewed coffee and sweet pastries fill up the shop.

My attraction to Converge Coffee was their seasonal menu: salted smoked rosemary latte, chocolate milk cold brew, pumpkin pie chai, yogurt parfait, apple and ricotta toast, Waldorf chicken salad toast and maple scones.

To start, I ordered an iced pumpkin pie chai with skim milk. The iced latte had a warm, fall flavor to it, making it the ideal autumn drink. This was my first time having chai, and it contained the perfect amount of spice. The pumpkin flavor was prominent and you could taste the syrup in every sip.

I also ordered an iced chocolate milk cold brew. The coffee was strong and you can tell the cold brew was steamed for twenty-four hours. Their Homeland Creamery chocolate milk was rich in flavor which made the drink a perfect balance of dessert and breakfast. To better describe the drink, it tasted like an iced hot chocolate.

To complete my experience, I ordered

a maple scone. The scone was so good that there weren’t any crumbs left. The strong maple flavor was not overbearing, which created a perfect combination with the flavorful coffees.

My friend ordered the apple and ricotta toast, and luckily, I grabbed a bite of it. The Granny Smith apples in the toast made the dish refreshing. The toast’s sourdough bread paired perfectly with the honey and nutmeg ricotta for an experience that made me wish I ordered it myself.

Overall, I rate Converge Coffee a 9.3/10.

Everything I ordered I would order again, from the delicious food to the spiced lattes.

Though the shop has relatively high prices, the perfect ambiance and helpful staff make you want to sit down and enjoy their whole menu.

If you have any questions or a review idea, please reach out to me at ekeefe5@ elon.edu.

EDDIE’S SCORE

9.3 of 10

Every week the restaurant reviewed is given a score out of 10.

EDDIE KEEFE | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Counterclockwise from top: iced chocolate milk cold brew, pumpkin pie chai, apple and ricotta toast and a salted rosemary latte from Converge Coffee.

lifestyle

Wednesday october 20, 2021

7

LOCAL NAIL SALONS BOOKING GUIDE Five local nail salons share how they got their start and continue to make themselves available to the university community Ava Girardi | Elon News Network

SERENITY NAILS AND SPA

PHOTOGRAPHER’S NAME | POSITION ADDIE BUCCO | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

E

VEN THOUGH PHOENIX NAILS has not yet used Facebook or an online website to book services, Elon students still rely on this appointment-only salon, just a six minute drive from campus. Students can book an appointment by calling the salon.

“I see the same faces every year once school starts up again. Many of the girls that come here for services have been coming since their freshman year so our clientele has built up because of that,” said Alex Lei, owner of Phoenix Nails. “Since the students are young girls, I try to make the prices as affordable as possible.”

Phoenix Nails offers pedicures, manicures, acrylics, nail tips and extension, dip nails, nail art,

S

ALON OWNER LY DO first established Serenity in 2013. Just six minutes away from Elon’s campus on University Drive, Do said she hopes to create a relaxing and premium experience for all her clients.

“I want to satisfy all my customers and make sure they leave my salon feeling happy with their service,” Do said. “Most of our clients are female students from Elon.”

Serenity Nails offers a 10% discount for Elon students, and the salon’s most popular services are acrylics and gel manicures. The salon also offers lip and eyebrow waxes, pedicures, manicures, dip nails, nail enhancements and extensions. Spa services include waxing, facials, massage therapy

and eyelash extensions.

Appointments can be made via phone or online, where customers can select their services and desired technician.

IF YOU GO Serenity Nails and Spa Where: 1183 University Dr., Suite 104,

Burlington, NC 27215 When: Monday-Saturday: 9:30 a.m. -7 p.m.

Sunday: 12 - 6 p.m.

Phone: (336) 524-9247

PHOENIX NAILS

waxing and skin care services.

“I have tried different salons in the area, and I always go back to Phoenix Nails,” sophomore Sally Meek said. “They always have appointments available when I call and are always friendly when I walk in.”

IF YOU GO Phoenix Nails Where: 961 Burlington Ave, Gibsonville,

NC 27249 When: Monday-Saturday 10 a.m. - 7 p.m.

Phone: (336) 446-0030 PHOTOGRAPHER’S NAME | POSITION ADDIE BUCCO | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

NAIL TYMES

W PHOTOGRAPHER’S NAME | POSITION

ITH NAIL TYMES ONLY a five minute drive away from Elon’s campus, many students make frequent visits to the salon, according to owner Lynn Twang.

“Being close to a college campus definitely keeps us in business during the year. Our main goal is to satisfy all our clients so they can visit us again,” Twang said.

“There are many nail salons in Burlington, so there is competition between the salons to attract students.”

Customers can receive regular manicures or pedicures, gel color, dip nails, acrylics, nail art and spa services such as eyebrow waxing and eyelash extensions.

Nail Tymes uses special online tools to allow easy booking access for Elon students and local residents.

Services can be booked through their Facebook page or salon site. Nail Tymes has adopted these booking

methods due to the nail competition in the area “I love Nail Tymes. I am a junior now at Elon and I have been going since freshman year,” Kate Shirley said. “I have always been satisfied with my acrylics so I always go back.”

IF YOU GO Nail Tymes Where: 1126 St Marks Church Rd, Burlington,

NC 27215 When: Monday-Saturday: 10 a.m. - 7:30 p.m.

Phone: (336) 270-4844

A4 NAILS

COURTESY OF NAIL TYMES

E

VA JIANG, OWNER OF A4 Nails, has been raved about by some Elon students because of her kind and professional character.

“Eva is so sweet,” sophomore Margaret McNally said. “She always remembers when I walk in and always satisfies my salon needs.”

A4 Nails allows easy booking through its online site. Customers can request a quote where they input their name, phone number, email and service request.

The salon offers pedicures, manicures, acrylics, dip nails, gel color, nails tips, spa and massage treatments.

IF YOU GO A4 Nails Where: 2948 S Church St #102, Burlington,

NC 27215 When: Tuesday-Saturday: 10 a.m. - 7 p.m.

Sunday: 9:30 a.m. - 6:30 p.m.

Phone: (336) 438-1638

PHOTOGRAPHER’S NAME | POSITION COURTESY OF A4 NAILS

PRO NAILS

P PHOTOGRAPHER’S NAME | POSITION COURTESY OF PRO NAILS

RO NAILS MAKES IT accessible for locals and Elon students to book an appointment through its website or call in to request a service.

“I make sure my staff is friendly to all my clients and I try to make it easy for them to book an appointment,” said Kim Gan, manager of Pro Nails.

This salon offers a variety of services including manicures, pedicures, gel color, acrylics, nail tips, dip color, nail art, waxing services and eyelash extensions.

“The staff make you feel right at home,” sophomore Jackie Riffle said. “I got a great pedicure service for just $20.”

IF YOU GO Pro Nails Where: 2765 S Church St, Burlington, NC

27215

When: Monday-Saturday 9:30 a.m. - 7:30 p.m.

Phone: (336) 585-0005

Wednesday, october 20, 2021 | page 8

SPORTS

NIL POLICIES REMAIN UNCLEAR COURTESY OF 247 SPORTS

Hugh M. Cummings High School sophomore Jonathan Paylor runs football drills. Paylor is already communicating with schools like the University of Georgia and Louisiana State University. He will be in a position to establish NIL agreements when he chooses which school to commit to.

LIKENESS | from cover “We’re an Under Armour school. If somebody wanted to do a contract with a competing brand, we might say, ‘yeah, you can do that commercial, but not while wearing Elon uniform or gear or on our facilities,’” Scheible said.

Scheible said that over 50 Elon athletes have made some type of NIL agreement, with almost every team represented in that number. Though there is a wide variety of companies who have made sponsorship agreements with Elon athletes, the majority of them are internet companies that are already familiar with how to efficiently use social media, like Barstool Sports.

“NIL success is all about marketability.

A student-athlete has to provide a platform that a sponsor finds attractive. For example, a strong social media following is generally the biggest draw for an endorsement deal,” Scheible said. “Student-athletes who want to succeed at NIL need to learn how to build and manage a brand, along with enhancing their own professional skills, such as financial literacy, time management, understanding taxes, etc.”

Though Elon athletics is not allowed to be involved in athlete’s dealings with NIL agreements, the athletic department has created workshops that athletes can attend to improve their brand. Scheible said that this idea was put into practice even before NIL was finalized, to prepare student athletes for life after college.

Despite the advantages for Elon athletes and athletes across the country who are making NIL agreements, some are still questioning if NIL will be beneficial for schools’ athletics programs, specifically smaller ones, in the long run.

Left to the details

When the NCAA established its interim NIL policy, it did so under fire. California had prohibited schools from punishing athletes who accepted endorsements while at college

in September 2019. But in June 2020, the Supreme Court ruled that the NCAA did not get special antitrust treatment because of its academic mission. And just over a year later in June 2021, the NCAA Board of Directors instructed schools to start creating their own policies for what should be allowed with as few restrictions as possible. The interim NIL policy was established in July 2021.

But even after the policy was written, it was considered loose.

Assistant professor of sport management Bill Squadron said that when the NCAA first met to create it’s NIL policy, there were many questions regarding the specifics of the policy. Instead of providing clarity on those questions, the NCAA “turned tail and ran.”

“They were getting all kinds of input, that they were going to be challenged legally, no matter what they did,” Squadron said. “They should have been bold and confident that they could establish rules and defend them, because this is an area that really required it.”

One interpretation of the rules the NCAA did not expect: top-ranked high school athletes graduating early to establish NIL agreements sooner. An example of this is Quinn Ewers, a student athlete who intended to graduate Carroll Senior High School in Southlake, Texas with the rest of his class.

A top prospect quarterback, Ewers decided to graduate early and enroll in Ohio State instead of seeing out his senior year of high school. ESPN later reported that Ewers signed a deal with GT Sports Marketing for $1.4 million.

“I think the whole high school piece of this is very much up in the air and potentially really tumultuous for the top recruited athletes,” Squadron said.

Though there are valid concerns connected to high school athletes’ involvement with NIL, Squadron suggested a positive to the policy.

In the past, college student-athletes were able to have chosen to graduate early and enter their sports’ draft. When it was not possible for student-athletes to make money playing their sport, it was an easy decision to decide to try their hands at making it professionally.

LUCAS CASEL | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Senior Leah Daniel starts off the third match against University of North Carolina at Asheville this year. The All-American volleyball player has agreements with Barstool Sports and Liquid I.V.

Now, Squadron thinks that decision might become a little harder.

“It’s going to keep top athletes going to college as opposed to maybe looking for other ways to get to the pros immediately because they’re going to start to earn money in college,” Squadron said. “Some people even said, ‘Well, if Zion Williamson could earn money at Duke, maybe he would have stayed at Duke because he really liked it there.’”

Hugh M. Cummings High School sophomore Jonathan Paylor is already in communication with schools such as the University of Georgia, Louisiana State University and Michigan State University.

The top-ranked recruit in North Carolina and eighth in the country, Paylor will be in a position to establish NIL agreements when he chooses which school to commit to.

“NIL is just kind of a big step for me just to know that things are appreciated,” Paylor said.

Similar to Elon workshops dealing with improving athletes’ brands, Paylor said there are now high school programs that work to educate high school student athletes on what to expect when offered an NIL agreement.

Rattling recruitment

With high school athletes now roped into the NIL merry-go-round, another challenge appears: how this will impact recruitment.

“Coaches and athletic directors are seeing this as a critical tool in attracting students to their campus, and honestly, in my personal opinion, I think this is terrible,” Squadron said. “I think it will create an arms race.

Whether it’s a small school or a large school, there’s going to be a lot of pressure to build a kind of a NIL ecosystem that you can then tell your recruits that they can take advantage of if they come to your school.”

For higher profile athletic schools like The Ohio State University or The University of Tennessee, Squadron said that because of their booster and alumni programs, they should be able to provide NIL opportunities that smaller schools can’t offer. Squadron also believes this will pressure smaller schools to reach out to local businesses, sponsors and

boosters to help create answers for how to compete with athletic programs with more money at their disposal.

According to Scheible, Elon is already in a good spot to create some of those answers.

“Not every prospect is going to be recruited by a power five school, right, so at the level that they’re being recruited at, I feel that Elon is very strong in terms of what we’re providing, in terms of NIL education and access,” Scheible said. “Power five is kind of separate from everybody else at this point, but that doesn’t mean that they necessarily have better opportunities though.”

The broader impacts of NIL on schools across the country have yet to be seen.

Though the infant policy might have created more questions than answers, those involved seem to agree that, at its core, the policy is a step in the right direction.

“Prior to NIL, [student-athletes] could have a business, but they couldn’t market it with their name or their image. So, if you’re looking at Jeffrey’s Hats, I could have a business, but I can’t actually use my name or my image to promote that business,” Scheible said. “Now that’s permissible. It’s always been permissible for students outside of the NCAA.” Squadron agrees that it is a positive development, but predicts that the process of resolving these issues will be done in “difficult circumstances.”

“As a result of the NCAA’s abdication of its responsibilities, there are no rules,” Squadron said. “It’s all over the map. No consistency, no uniformity. It will impact Elon and other schools by changing the recruiting dynamic and calculation, which I think is unfortunate because that’s likely to add to an arms race that I don’t think is really in anyone’s interest when it comes to college sports.”

Since creating the interim policy in June, the NCAA has not given further guidance or clarity. Twenty-nine states have enacted NIL laws, though some will not go into effect until 2023. For states with no NIL laws, it is the decision of the conference or individual school to establish NIL policies if wanted.